Two senior senators reintroduced a Senate bill yesterday (Feb. 26) that would lift the US ban on federal funding for stem cell research.
Senators Tom Harkin (left), Arlen
Specter and Orrin Hatch

Image: A.C. Glenn/UPI/Newscom/AP
The bipartisan measure by Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) would permit research on human embryonic stem cell lines regardless of the date the tissue was obtained and allow new cell lines to be derived from human embryos left over from fertility treatments. The same bill passed both houses of Congress in 2007, but was vetoed by then-President Bush. On the campaign trail, President Obama promised to reverse Bush's policy, and one of Obama's key science advisors, Harold Varmus, linkurl:said last month;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55391/ that the President would issue an executive order in "the near future." But White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs has also suggested that Obama would rather wait and work together with Congress...




Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!